Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister says all personnel had been evacuated from the navy resupply base in Tartus, Syria, adding that not a single Russian military serviceman remained in the country.

Mikhail Bogdanov made the announcement in an interview with the
Al-Hayat newspaper. “Presently, the Russian Defense Ministry
has not a single person stationed in Syria. The base does not
have any strategic military importance,” the newspaper quoted
the Russian official as saying.

Russian media have verified the statement and the business daily
Vedomosti quoted an unnamed source in the Defense Ministry as
saying that this was true as all military and civilian personnel
had been evacuated from the Tartus base and there were no Russian
military instructors working with the Syrian military forces. The
source added that the withdrawal was prompted not only by the
increased risks caused by the ongoing military conflict, but also
by the fact that in the current conditions any incident involving
Russian servicemen would likely have some unfavorable reaction
from the international community.

Russia currently has a 16-ship flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea
but none of them has called at the port of Tartus in recent
months and there were no reports of such plans.

Mikhail Bogdanov is also Russian President’s plenipotentiary for
Middle East issues and he headed the Russian delegation at this
week’s talks between Russia, US and UN on preparations of the
major international conference on Syria, dubbed Geneva-2.

Following the Tuesday round of talks another Russian diplomat –
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadiy Gatilov – told reporters that
the sides failed to agree on a number of questions and the terms
of the future conference were not yet agreed. In particular, the
participants of the talks varied on Iran’s possible role in the
future conference.

Moscow supports Tehran’s participation in talks as it would make
a positive contribution to the possible political settlement in
Syria, the Russian official noted.

Besides, the participation of some of the Syrian opposition
groups remains under question though the US side said they were
working on this, Gatilov added.

The Russian diplomat said that the supplies of weapons to the
Syrian opposition were not discussed at Tuesday's talks, though
he noted that this issue “was not creating positive political
environment for the start of the political process.”

Gatilov said that Russia still hoped the plan to call the
international conference would end in success. In particular, the
issue will be discussed at the forthcoming meeting between
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US State Secretary
John Kerry, due soon within the framework of the ASEAN conference
in Brunei.